UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN MEDICAL AND DENTAL PROFESSIONALS

Nurul Syamimi binti Mohd Azlan Sunil 1 and * Dr. Brigit Eapen 2 . 1. Bachelor of Dental Surgery (year 1), Saveetha Dental College, Chennai-600077. 2. Professor, Department of Oral Surgery, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, No.162, PH road, Chennai600077. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 5(4), 1820-1827 1821 Introduction:-Dental practitioners and medical doctors have their patients' wellbeing secured head to toe, yet they advance health in various ways. While dental specialists concentrate on oral health, specialists treat disease and harm in other physiological system. Their range of focus isn't the main contrast: They take after separate educational paths, and dental practitioners have less specialty alternatives than doctors. What both offer, however, is a brilliant occupation viewpoint or above-average pay [1].
They likewise endorse medications, request diagnostic tests, diagnose afflictions, and record patient data [2]. Doctors of medicine regularly have a specialization, for example, general practice, gynaecology, dermatology, paediatric drug, orthopaedics, or numerous others. All surgeons are medicinal specialists.
Medical doctors' employments change by forte and workplace. While emergency room doctors will work in quick pace, high-stretch situations, numerous family specialists can set their own schedules in a private medicinal practice. Peopling in sickness and harm can be extremely compensating, yet the employment can be distressing and convey an enthusiastic toll, also.
Another important branch of medicine is dentistry. It is included in the study, diagnosis, aversion, and treatment of diseases, disorders and states of the oral depression, regularly in the dentition additionally the oral mucosa, and of adjoining and related structures and tissues, especially in the maxillofacial (jaw and facial) area [3].It is thought that dental surgery was the first specialization from medicine [4].
Dental practitioners' areas of consideration incorporate their patients' teeth and gums as well as the muscles of the head, neck and jaw, the tongue, salivary organs, the nervoussystem of the head and neck and different ranges [5]. During a comprehensive exam, dental practitioners inspect the teeth and gums, however they likewise search for lumps, swellings, discolorations, ulcerationsany variation from the norm. Whenever fitting, they perform procedures, for example, biopsies, diagnostic tests for infectious or chronic disease, salivary glandfunction, and screening tests for oral tumour.Oral diseases are major public health problems due to their high incidence and prevalence across the globe with the disadvantaged affected more than other socio-economic groups [6].
Furthermore, dental practitioners can spot early cautioning signs in the mouth that may indicate illness somewhere else in the body. Dental specialists' preparation additionally empowers them to perceive circumstances that warrant referring patients for care by dental specialists or doctors.
Various dental professionals come across unhealthy professional egoism and criticism from medical professionals in their daily practice. Also, many medical professionals are unaware of the scope of dentistry and thereby encroach into their field of interest, thus, creating an unhealthy professional relationship.
This survey is important in order to understand the attitude of medical professionals to the field of dentistry and make aware of the importance of dentistry in medical science.

Materials and Methods:-
A pretested questionnaire containing 10 questions on personal experiences of dentists dealing with medical professionals was prepared for the dental professionals to be filled up. 100 dental professionals, both male and female from Saveetha Dental College were assessed through the questionnaire. The questionnaires were directly distributed to the subjects and finished questionnaires were immediately collected on site. The subjects are between the age of 23 to 59 years old.
The questionnaire includes age and sex of the subjects, to their profession, relationship with medical colleagues and their opinion and ideas on how to improve the understanding between medical and dental professionals. 1823

Results:-
A total of 100 dental professionals in Saveetha Dental College participated in this study. The response rate of participants was 100%. Among the participants, 43% were female and 57% were male, aged 23 to 59 years. The results were gathered through the questionnaires and they were as follows.
In question one, the participants were asked whether they are academicians, practitioners or consultants. 18% claimed to be academicians only, 7% are practitioners only and 11% are consultants only while 18% are both academicians and practitioners, 8% are academicians and consultants, 13% are practitioners and consultants, and the remaining and highest percentage are of altogether academician, practitioner and consultant, which is 26%. Figure 1:-shows the result of the second question, which is whether the participants are associated with any medical colleagues in their practice or profession. From the figure, it shows that 76% answered yes and 24% answered no. This shows that most dental professionals do have the experience of working closely with medical professionals while a minor number do not.  When asked whether they think medical professionals are aware of the scope of dentistry, exactly 44% agreed on medical professionals' awareness on the scope of dental professionals. Contrary to that, 28% answered no while the remaining 28% answered maybe. This is shown in Figure 3.
Respond to Question 5 as shown in Figure 4  Other thoughts are some medical doctors do not understand that dentists deal with overall head and neck region and not the oral cavity alone. Despite both medical and dental doctors share a common above-average pay, egoism continues to show-off among medical doctors toward dentists as they feel more superior and knowledgeable, as one of the answers suggest. On a different viewpoint, a majority (87%) of those who answered yes and maybe for the previous question, believe that there is a positive change in the attitude of their medical colleagues towards dentistry as some cases are in need of discussion and teamwork from both sides.
When asked whether dental professionals consider themselves as equal to a medical professional for service to a patient in Question 7, 21% circled no while the remaining (79%) responded yes, as shown in Figure 5. When asked if they feel the rapport between medical and dental doctors can be improved right from the training periods itself in Question 9, a majority of the participants, exactly 94% have given a yes to the question. The remaining 6% went with a no. Percentage of response to Question 9 is shown in Figure 7. Question 10 requires the participants to give their opinions and ideas on improving understanding between medical and dental professionals. Their comments include:  Discussing cases that require teamwork from both sides  Make first year of study common for both  Yearly conference and seminars with special cases to share ideas  Include dental studies in medical colleges  Explain the importance of dentistry  Organizing joint case discussions  Make aware the effect of oral health to overall systemic health

Discussion:-
The results of this study show that most of the interviewed professionals are aware of their relationship with medical professionals and understand the importance of keeping a good rapport. There are many ways to keep the rapport between medical and dental professionals, one of the most effective is by collaboration.
Physicians and dentists rarely have the opportunity to discuss the oral and systemic links. Health care provider sees oral health problems as being separate from general health and should be treated by dentists alone. This goes to show that not all doctors understand the importance of oral hygiene to systemic health. Mouth is clearly part of the body and are connected to other tissue and organs. For instance, more severe periodontal diseases are associated with diabetes mellitus and impaired immunity [7,8] and also teeth erosion can be caused by gastroesophageal reflux [9].
Doctors should also pay attention oral health conditions and work closely with dentists as necessary to ensure holistic health care. A study showed that one of the commonest disease of pre-schoolers in Hong Kong is dental carries that affect more than half of them by the age of 5 years [10]. This is when understanding and knowledge of both medical doctors and dentists become helpful. Paediatricians and doctors should have a good understanding of this important epidemic, give appropriate health advice, and make appropriate early referrals to dentists [11]. The importance of maintaining good oral hygiene and oral health in the prevention of pneumonia among nursing home residents [12], as well as in the management of patients with diabetes [7], cardiovascular diseases [13], and chronic kidney disease [14] have been amply reported.
Oral and systemic health are certainly related. In order to provide high-quality health service, an interdisciplinary and holistic approach should be adopted [15]. Despite the differences in the level of knowledge, work experience and income, both medical and dental professionals share a passion and goal to provide health treatment as a whole and not just respective body parts.

Conclusion:-
The findings from this survey showed that the subjects have established good rapport with their medical acquaintances despite the differences in their field of career. There is also a need to introduce dentistry as a compulsory unit in other health sciences, so as to improve knowledge of the profession and thus, improve the quality of the profession. This will improve equity and teamwork, hence improve management of patients.